Saturday, October 10, 2015

PARAMOUR FOR THE DEVIL by Savannah Hill

PARAMOUR FOR THE DEVIL

AUTHOR: Savannah Hill

GENRE: Paranormal Erotic Romance

Darkly erotic. Supremely powerful.

Haley Hawthorne is a witch. She shuns her paranormal gifts, instead escaping into a mundane, reclusive life as an accountant for her Uncle Eli’s firm. Five years earlier, Haley was kidnapped by Raden, brother of Lucifer, and held captive as his personal sex slave. She escaped but still bears the scars, both physical and emotional. Now she’s turned away from both magic and sex, and she’s certain nothing will ever bring those lost things back into her life...

Damian, son to Lucifer, has renounced his right to the throne of Hell and has become a soldier for Adversus, hunting evil supernatural creatures on Earth. Unfortunately, he’s powerless to witches, and this witch can read his mind. He can’t decide what is more dangerous—the irresistible attraction he feels for her, or the intoxicating peace she gives him. One thing is certain, they both share a tortured past.

After Damian rescues her from an attack by monstrous djinn, Haley discovers the dangerously seductive soldier has secrets of his own. One of them is the collection of whips, ropes, handcuffs, and a leather riding crop he keeps locked away, though he refuses to show her his “Master” side. But when her trust in him grows, she finds herself increasingly intrigued by all the kinky things he’s hiding. But Damian has been given a new mission to kill a monster. A monster that turns out to be her uncle...

Haley's fingers moved automatically, stumbling only slightly over the same heavy melodies she’d once played obsessively for hours. The bedroom door opened, and Damian walked into the room, breaking her reverie.

“Oh, hi.” He stared at her in surprise, holding a towel low around his waist, and Haley caught herself gaping at the defined muscles of his upper body, adorned with scars. “I didn’t know you were in here, I’m just gonna grab some clothes.”

His half naked body had her heart beating erratically in her chest, and Haley tried not to look at him as he pulled open a dresser drawer. She suddenly realized he was reaching for his own clothes. “Is…is this your room?”

“Yeah.” He retrieved a stack of folded clothes from the drawer. “You can stay in here though, I’ll sleep somewhere else.”

“I’m so sor—” Haley abruptly stopped speaking as he casually took off the towel, and she let out a barely audible gasp. Turning away from him, she brought her hand to cover her eyes. “I’m...I can go…”

Her pulse raced at the sound of rustling cotton as he dressed a few feet away from her.

“You play guitar?”

“Uh…no, not really… I mean… I don’t play well.” She kept her eyes hidden from him with one hand while she loosely held the neck of the guitar with the other, aware that her dress had hiked up around her hips in her cross-legged position.

“You can look now.”

She opened her eyes as he sat next to her, wearing a white T-shirt over gray sweatpants. “I thought it sounded really good.”

Looking down at the beautiful instrument in her lap, recognition sparked. “Is this yours?”

With a nod, he got up to pull her red guitar from the wall. “When did you learn how to play?”

“When I was younger,” she nervously held his shiny blue Les Paul, unsure where to put her hands, “but I got a little obsessed with it when I stayed in here for a few months.”

Damian sat down with hers and started tuning it. “So this is your room...” He concentrated on the strings in his hand. “And this is your guitar?”

“Red Velvet.” She nodded, trying to keep her breathing even.

“You named your guitar?” He smiled at her.

Haley relaxed a little as he tuned the strings. “I was very close with it for a while.” She took a steadying breath. “It kind of felt like therapy.”

“That was after you escaped?”

“Yes.” She lowered her gaze.

“I actually took this room because it had an amp in it.” Damian mindlessly played a slow melody on her guitar.

“When did you start playing?” The sound sent a tingling warmth through her, and she found herself staring at his fingers as they expertly moved along the strings.

“When I was a kid. It came naturally to me.”

Her focus dimmed at the powerful chords. “So…you were a kid…at one time…”

He nodded. “I’ve aged normally so far, like a human, but eventually I’ll stop aging.”

“How old are you?”

“Thirty-two.” He cast his gaze downward.

Haley looked thoughtfully at the bedspread, listening to the haunting music. “I’m twenty-seven.” She volunteered the information. “I feel like I’m eighty, I never go out anywhere.” Her gaze flickered to him. “Are you really only thirty-two?”

He seemed surprised by her remark and looked back down to the strings. “It’s a lot older than you.”

“You’re immortal.” She gave him a half-smile. “You could be thousands of years old.”

Jhene Aiko - The Worst (This one was almost constantly playing as I wrote the beginning of the story.)

Tinashe - 2 On

Slaves - My Heart is Empty and Full of White Girls

Slaves - The Young and Beyond Reckless (I quoted lyrics from this one at the beginning of the book: The fork in this road is your heart choosing Heaven or Hell…)

Florence + the Machine - Drumming Song

Beyonce - Haunted and the new Fifty Shades of Grey version of Crazy in Love

Anthony Hamilton and Elayna Boynton - Freedom

Tool - Entire 10,000 Days album

Puscifer - The Rapture & Momma Sed

Earned It - The Weeknd (This one was on repeat during the rough bondage BDSM scene toward the end of the book.)

Fall Out Boy - The Phoenix

Tove Lo - Habits

Perfect Circle - By and Down & Orestes

Amy Lee - Sally’s Song from The Nightmare Before Christmas

Savannah Hill is an erotic romance novelist diligently working to create a world that readers can truly experience and enjoy along with her. Captivated by romance at a very young age, she began writing love stories in grade school, always imagining new scenarios and characters. Addicted to her passion, her first novel, Paramour for the Devil, is the story that invaded her dreams until the final chapter was written. She is currently writing the sequel to Paramour, Seducing the Devil.

She lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her man, the love of her life, and spends her days chasing their toddler boy who loves to giggle.

25 Fun Facts:

1) Savannah Hill is a pen name, but when my man, Forrest Hill, and I tie the knot, it will become my legal name. My mom named me Savannah after a character on Days of Our Lives.

2) I took a break halfway through writing Paramour for the Devil and wrote the first half of the sequel, Seducing the Devil, before going back to finish the first book.

3) My father owns a classic Chevelle, the same muscle car my character Damian drives.

4) I set out to write a romantic comedy that could star Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan if it was adapted to film... though sweet romantic love remains at the very heart of the story, the book took it's own turn down a very dark, erotic, violent path as I wrote it.

5) I've always pictured Danneel Ackles as my perfect Haley, but with bright blue eyes. I recently found out she's married to Jensen Ackles, I wouldn't mind having his sexy ass play the role of Damian.

6) I listened to Tool's album Lateralus for several hours while imagining up the third book in the Hawthorne Witches series.

7) The fourth book in the Hawthorne Witches series is my absolute favorite, Haley's cousin, Cassie's story. She's a bit of a party girl but has some awful things happen to her and falls for Damian's evil brother Roman, the reigning dark lord in Hell.

8) Haley and Damian bond a little over their mutual interest in Lord of the Rings. After writing the scene where they watch the movies, I had an LOTR/Hobbit movie marathon with my man.

9) When writing the sequel, Seducing the Devil, I researched Lucifer's appearance by reading through passages that describe him in the Bible. He has a giant wingspan and lizard-like eyes.

10) Originally, I wanted to name the U.S. government agency that Damian works for "Aegis", but upon doing a little research, I discovered that is actually the name of a real government defense company. I went with Adversus instead.

11) The idea for the book came to me one summer morning when I drove home from my friend's house the morning after a party, completely hungover. I wrote the first chapter that day. (And watched Kill Bill volumes 1 & 2 out of order, just like they do in the story.)

12) I dreamed up Damian (the son of Satan) several years ago in my early twenties after watching hours upon hours of Supernatural. I pictured his car in my mind and had to do a little research to realize I was imagining a Chevelle Supersport. Then my father bought a Chevelle many years later, it's apparently always been his dream car.

13) The movie The Raid 2 somehow inspired many aspects of the story for Paramour for the Devil, especially Hawthorne Tower, the accounting firm where Haley works.

14) The Hawthorne's house in Seattle they call "the Castle" was inspired by an actual home I lived in, located in the Montlake neighborhood of Seattle. It had a strange castle-like feel to it, and the floors/staircases were just slightly slanted from an earthquake. We called it the "Crooked Castle".

15) Deleted scenes from the book are available on my website: www.savannahhillromance.com.

16) My man claims he is the inspiration for the character, Neil (Haley's annoying ex-boyfriend), when in reality, several of Damian's characteristics and even some exact quotes, are directly based on my man's personality.

17) I dreamed up most of the plot for Paramour for the Devil during daily running sessions. The monotonous cardio provided a perfect escape for me.

18) Haley's cousin (and best friend), Ginger, is a mixture of my two best friends, Breanna and A.B.

19) I started writing romance in 6th grade, swapping stories written on notebook paper with my group of girlfriends at the time. I definitely enjoyed the writing part more than they did, and I started to get the idea that it was my real passion.

20) I stayed up writing all night at times, and when I re-read some of the scenes, I didn't remember writing them at all. This was the case for the scene describing Haley's escape from Hell.

21) My obsession with romance began with Disney, specifically Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. Now I get to watch them constantly with my toddler boy and experience them in a new way as a mother.

22) Just like Damian, my man plays guitar. I fell for him right away when he played Led Zeppelin's "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You" for me on our first date. For our anniversary, he bought me a beautiful red bass guitar that I named Red Velvet, which is what Haley names her electric guitar.

23) A lot of writers do their best work when they're drunk, I can't even focus on the screen after one beer. However, marijuana is legal in Washington state, and I definitely found some inspiration with a strain called golden pineapple.

24) I write on my laptop in my bed, and, after doing something very silly and setting my hot flat-iron on my keyboard, the "F" key melted off. I wrote the entire book without an "F" key, just pressing the little tiny knob. Works like a charm.

25) I work from home as an administrative assistant for a medical marijuana clinic, and I wrote quite a bit of Paramour for the Devil between productivity reports while on the clock.